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No room for eager beavers in Flavortown
By adamg on Mon, 05/16/2022 - 5:58pm
Guy Fieri set up one of his restaurants in the old Masonic Building on Tremont at Boylston, you know, the one with the signs warning you about hollow sidewalks and the large old Mason's Lodge logo done in tile that's been there for decades. Guy Fieri thinks his mug, and his need for workers, is more important, though, so he's wheat-pasted a garish help-wanted ad right over it.
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Comments
Lighten up Francis
It's a TEMPORARY sign that will be removed. And it wasn't fastened with screws or nails, so it's doubtful it will affect the mosaic beneath it.
If it's actually wheat pasted
If it's actually wheat pasted, that's not temporary. I've seen wheat pasted flyers on telephone poles that are 20 or 30 years old and still readable. That stuff is almost impossible to get off.
That's true. Guy Fieri got
That's true. Guy Fieri got that shit in his hair once, and it never came out.
Rude!
Rude!
I'll admit I am not a fan.
I tried two of his restaurants in CA maybe 5-6 years ago. Rubbery calamari is just cheap seafood, poorly prepared. I think I will pass.
It has been a while but below is perhaps the best restaurant takedown ever written:
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/reviews/restaurant-review-guys...
Wow!
I finished that review forewarned and amused and sad for the poor reviewer and the people they were with who had to taste that glop.
Isn't there a deed
Isn't there a deed restriction or anything or anything in the title history to that properry that protects that amazing mosaic craftsmanship? Put your big celebrity money clout with authorities somewhere else but not over someone's painstaking piece of historic craftsmanship mosaic. It's one of the last things left in that area that was so interesting and cool to look at.
It's rather strange
That "old Masonic building" is still very much the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and both own the building and actively use it. I find it hard to believe they would allow their seal to be plastered over like that. But, if you like that mosaic check out some older photos, there were a few others that were removed when they rented the space out to the restaurant (that are supposedly safely in storage).
Possibly...
...he figured it was easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Or perhaps he simply dgaf.
Incredible!
That's three strikes against his restaurant all in itself.
high level
douchebaggery
With luck, the damage will not be
permanent. But shameful if he shat over a bit of Boston architectural history in a way that can't be fixed.
With equal luck, people will figure out that while Poochy may be a pretty good entertainer, he has always -- as in never not -- been a punishingly mediocre restaurateur.
Don't encourage these lame carpetbaggers. Support your local indies, I beg you.
Doesn't he help local indies?
Yes, he's a bit of a jerk-off, but seems like DDD has done a lot for local restaurants, not to mention:
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/guy-fieri-pandemic-fundraising-25-milli...
Fried jalapeno lobster mac and cheese sliders with donkey sauce aren't my cup of tea, but never understood the personal hatred of the man.
Having watched his show
Maybe I’ve just seen the wrong episodes but the guy comes off as a total pompous ass on the show. I remember an episode where he was in the kitchen of a southeast Asian place and he kept telling the owner/chef what they could do better as if he was the expert and not the immigrant chef.
Maybe it’s really helped these establishments which would be at least some reward for having to put up with him.
--
---
not for nothing but...
the guy officiated a mass wedding of 101 same sex couples in honor of his sister, who was gay and who had died 4 years prior so while people are complicated and who knows what his personal history is with regard to homophobia, I don't think it's reasonable to call him a homophobe at this point in time
The concept that masculine
The concept that masculine focused is anti woman and homophobic is getting old. Especially in the field of food. He fills a niche that had not been filled and made am empire out of it, turns out straight dudes will watch things that interest them presented in a more direct way.
wut
wut
Hm?
Perhaps something got edited out, but I don't see a reference to homophobia. However, just as a general statement, it's worth noting that having a gay friend (or even relative) doesn't make you not homophobic.
yep, it got edited
cybah had said they had heard Guy was homophobic. My post was in response to that, and apparently cybah took the post down
I felt exactly that way too
And then caught a few episodes of a short lived series about him and his family.
It completely changed my opinion of him.
Aesthetics aside, he's a really good guy.
Reliable source - " great guy"
FWIW, a friend of mine in the industry spent a fair amount of time with Fieri one-on-one and was pleasantly surprised at the genuinely nice person he was. He knew he was incredibly fortunate to be where he was and wasn't taking anything for granted. I'm going with that.
Like others, I've seen snippets of him and his show, and well, not my style. Chalk it up to show biz.
I am not a fan but I have
I am not a fan but I have heard about all he has done and while, I won't eat at his restaurant, he seems to be a good guy who plays a brash man.
Nice
I thought your meal description was a piece of amazing hipster-fare satire until I googled it, and lo and behold, donkey sauce exists.
I agree that DDD is good at promoting
local mom-and-pops, so watch that one if you like food TV programming (I mostly don't). What I'm saying is that is his own restaurants are famously forgettable.
I can cite a recent tiny anecdotal example: my margarita at his TD Garden adjacent faux-Mex joint: watery, $15, and served in a plastic cup. So bad I skipped the opportunity to order some Trash Can Nachos. Fuck that money-grubbing noise.
Wise Choice
I once ate ate his restaurant at Foxwoods out of drunken desperation and I can confirm that the trash can nachos do, in fact, taste like trash.
He serves a purpose for tourists wanting to try low(ish) cost celebrity restaurant. I can't fault the man for making money through various channels.
Someone said he criticized how an Asian restaurant was making something and while I don't ever watch his show, I don't think I've ever seen him criticize anything, or say that anything he was trying was less than excellent.
I would actually consider him the most likeable of all Food Network big names.
FWIW
It's not clear if Guy Fieri is responsible for this particular ad or if it was put up by the local restaurant/entertainment group which appears to be operating the new place in the Masonic Building -- you can see which one if you look at the bottom of the ad.
I will concede that ...
Guy Fieri probably did not personally get up on a ladder with a big ol' bucket o' wheat paste. But that's his frosted-tips giant head up there.
an exceptional pairing
wheat paste with donkey sauce. off the chain!
Sure, but
Do you think he "thinks his mug, and his need for workers, is more important" than the mosaic underneath? Or do you think it's more accurate to say that he (or some LLC he owns) licensed his name and likeness to Big Night for a number of authorized uses which would include employee recruitment, and that someone in marketing/HR at Big Night probably decided that wheat-pasting that giant ad over the mosaic was the strategy to go with. Not like accuracy is important in journalism these days.
Big Night Entertainment
Yes, it looks like the blame likely falls on Big Night Entertainment here. Which preceded Fieri's latest nightmare with their own offerings of overpriced mediocrity ... and has had more than its fair share of run-ins with law enforcement at many of its establishments over the years.
Free the Boston Beavers!
Who put up that poster, the Watch and Ward Society?
Donkey Sauce
What I want to know is, does Donkey Sauce contain actual Donkey? If not, I am outraged at the deception, and would like to get in on the class-action lawsuit that I am sure is under way. If so, could I have something without Donkey Sauce, please?
Of course you can!
We have a lovely Pumpkin Spice dipping sauce...
Oh noes!!!
Wait until you hear about steak sauce and duck sauce…
I’m more concerned about why they sell donkey sauce if donkey isn’t on the menu.
Then there are donkey burgers
https://live.staticflickr.com/8862/28174133374_dbcd8478ae_b.jpg
How many Lobsters have died
in the preparation of Lobster Sauce?
Don't judge a book...
1. He didn't put the poster up.
2. If his food is so universally disliked then why are his 50+ restaurants a massive success? It's not my cup of tea but I can name more than a couple "famous" local places that are truly horrible in quality, cleanliness, and service.
3. Reality TV isn't real. It's just a persona meant to attract people to otherwise overlooked mom & pop burger shacks and beer gardens. He does a lot of good for a lot of small businesses.
4. I can't believe I felt compelled to defend Guy Fieri.
Happy to judge a commercial success
as a potential aesthetic failure. Surely there’s a multi-platinum-selling musician that you despise? In my experience, popular taste isn’t a reliable path to the extraordinary.
If you seek the great mean, by all means follow mass taste. But I hope by now you recognize that as with ideas, politicians, art -- pretty much everything in life -- the fact that a restaurant is popular does not necessarily exclude it from being absolutely terrible.
So did the beavers...
represent building a lodge. That's kind of corny. There must be a deeper meaning?
I used to work...
...with a theatre group that occasionally rented out the first floor of the building for their shows. But we were always very respectful of the space, and no, we never put our posters over the mosaic. (I daresay they wouldn't have allowed us to do that anyway.) But our stays there were always short - this was never a permanent thing, just a few weeks at a time - and then the space went back to its regular use.
It felt a little strange to me when the first, failed restaurant went into that space (Explorateur), and the Guy Fierrrrrrrri one seems even stranger. But I guess the Masons are ok with it???